The new transparency: surveillance and social sorting

Led by: Professor David Lyon (Queen's University, Canada)

Open University Business School contact: Dr Kirstie Ball

Background

Surveillance is rapidly becoming the dominant organising practice of the late modern world. This project questions how and why this came about and investigates its key characteristics and major consequences. As institutions of all kinds depend on communication and information technologies, personal data are processed and recorded on a massive scale and public safety and national security become top priorities, surveillance is now experienced as a daily reality.

Aims and objectives

The central research questions are:

1. What factors contribute to the general expansion of surveillance as a technology of governance in late modern societies?
2. What are the underlying principles, technological infrastructures and institutional frameworks that support surveillance practices?
3. What are the social consequences of The New Transparency both for institutions and for ordinary people?

These central research questions will be addressed via five integrated research sub-projects:

1. The role of technology companies in promoting surveillance internationally, led by Dr Kirstie Ball, Open University Business School and Professor Laureen Snider, Queen’s University
2. Digital media surveillance: from the internet to ubiquitous computing in different countries, led by Professor Andrew Clement, University of Toronto and Professor Colin Bennett, University of Victoria
3. International surveillance consequences of 9/11: social and legal, led by Professor Kevin Haggerty, University of Alberta, Professor Art Cockfield, Queen's University
4. Population management, urban control: Middle East, Europe, North America, led by Professor Emeritus Elia Zureik and Professor David Lyon, Queen's University
5. Resistance and oppositional movements to surveillance: cross-national studies, led by Professor Colin Bennett, University of Victoria and Professor David Lyon, Queen's University.

Methods

The research program focuses on three surveillance domains (surveillance in public spaces, surveillance embedded in electronic interactions and surveillance in the operation of mega events) and on three emerging surveillance trends (profiling, prediction and pre-emptive methods, the criminalization of personal data and consequences of surveillance for citizenship). Researching the domains and trends requires comparative, cooperative, multi-disciplinary global research. The team will use a combination of case studies, documentary analysis and interviews.

Research team

• Dr Kirstie Ball (The Open University Business School)
• Professor Colin Bennett (University of Victoria, Canada)
• Professor Andrew Clement (University of Toronto, Canada)
• Professor Arthur Cockfield (Queen's University, Canada)
• Sara Degli Esposti (The Open University Business School)
• Professsor Kevin Haggerty (University of Alberta, Canada)
• Professor David Lyon (Queen's University, Canada)
• Professor Laureen Snider (Queen’s University, Canada)
• Professor Emeritus Elia Zureik (Queen's University, Canada)

Links

• The Surveillance Studies Network

Research centre: Responsibility and Regulation (R&R)